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Replica of 1,084-lb shark lands ashore on Yarmouth’s waterfront

Canadian-record-size shark caught during 2004 Yarmouth Shark Scramble

TINA COMEAU tina.comeau@saltwire.com

Jaws dropped when the shark was brought ashore 18 years ago and a new life-size replica of it on Yarmouth’s waterfront is turning heads once again.

The 1,084.28-pound shortfin Mako shark was caught during the 2004 Yarmouth Shark Scramble, setting a Canadian record.

Over time, event organizers decided it was worthy of a replica. Many years after that decision the shark replica was unveiled on Yarmouth’s waterfront on June 18.

The man who landed the shark, Jamie Doucette, couldn’t be present. He was on a fishing trip. But his mother and children were there.

“It’s an honour to see the replica of what he caught,” his mother Sharon Doucette said, recalling in 2004 when her “eyeballs popped out of her head.”

“He had called us earlier and said they were on their way in and they thought they had the biggest shark but they didn’t say how big it was,” she said. “I got the shock of my life.”

The shark was caught by the vessel Pembroke Princess, which was captained by Bernard Tedford. The other crew members included Rosemary Tedford, Dolores Doucette, Donovan Cunningham and Terry Bullerwell.

Bullerwell was at the replica unveiling.

“It looked a lot bigger on the boat,” he said, recalling from that day, “I had to go out to the end of the stern on my hands and knees to pull the rope up over the dorsal fin.”

The female Mako was said to be 21 years old. The round weight was 1,084.28 pounds and the dressed weight was 838.86-lbs. Its overall length was 11.2 feet (roughly threeand-a-half metres) from the tip of its snout to the tip of its tail.

Sponsors covered the cost of having the fibreglass replica made, which was done by Brown’s Taxidermy in Florida.

A photo of the landed shark, taken at the time by Vanguard journalist Carla Allen, traveled the world via the internet – becoming an urban legend. People changed the location of its landing to places such as Australia, South Africa, British Columbia, Washington and

elsewhere. Some said they were the one that had caught it. Others said the shark and photo were fake.

Allen wrote about this shark, along with shark research and other shark-related history, in a 2012 book she published called Shark On Line. The book also details the history of the Yarmouth Shark Scramble.

This Yarmouth event, first held in 1998, takes place Aug. 17-20 this year. As has been the case in recent scrambles, only blue sharks can be caught.

“DFO Science will be on site to gather their information from the sharks,” said tournament organizer and committee member Bob Gavel. “We’re going to have a lot of stuff on the waterfront, we’re hoping, for children like touch tanks, fishponds, etc.”

Last year’s tournament did happen, but because of the COVID pandemic access areas were fenced off, while organizers distributed masks to those in attendance.

“We’re hoping for a bigger turnout for boats and spectators this year,” Gavel said.

Still, it’s an event not everyone welcomes. While it draws lots of spectators to the waterfront, there are many in the community who see it as unnecessary and do not support killing sharks as part of a recreational fishing tournament.

On social media when posts are made about the event, it is polarizing, with some saying the argument that the tournament generates scientific research is not a good enough reason to hold it.

Gavel was asked about the differing opinions about the event.

“There’s a lot of different recreational fisheries in which fish are retained. They fish tuna and retain them. They fish trout and retain them.

They fish salmon and retain them,” he said. “The population, according to science, is very high. We only keep very few – it’s only three sharks per vessel.”

In a 2019 CBC story about shark derbies, DFO technician Warren Joyce was quoted as saying the sharks killed in the derbies are a "small dent on the population" and represent only about three per cent of the total Canadian fishing mortality for this species.

Early on in its history, the Yarmouth Shark Scramble had allowed every crew member on a vessel to land a shark. Gavel said it was determined that wasn’t necessary and the number was reduced

to only three blue sharks.

All other sharks caught must be tagged and released. As well, all blue sharks not meeting the specified length set out in the tournament rules are also tagged, recorded and released.

“Last year we only landed around 40 sharks but we ended up tagging and releasing about 100,” Gavel says.

Last year, 14 boats carrying 115 participants took part. The largest blue shark landed weighed 438 pounds.

“We’ve worked with DFO science since we started in 1998. That’s basically one of the main reasons for the tournament,” Gavel said. “Blue sharks aren’t commercially fished so this is the only way they can get any scientific information about what they’re eating, sex, their growth, etc.”

On its website, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans says a Maritimes Recreational Shark Fishery has been active since 1994. “Biological data collected from the recreational fishery is used to develop an assessment of stock status and the general health of the population, particularly that of blue sharks,” it reads. “Participants of the recreational shark fishery are required to provide information on length, weight, sex and location of every shark that is caught, whether it is landed or released.”

DFO says by monitoring data trends year to year – and in conjunction with detailed information collected at local shark tournaments – scientists at the Canadian Atlantic Shark Research Laboratory are able to detect populationlevel changes.

“While there are social and economic benefits to a healthy shark fishery, the fishery must be sustainable over the long term,” the website states. “The populations of each of the shark species must be conserved at safe levels.”

“Shark fishing tournaments are held each year in waters off Nova Scotia,” DFO states. “These are commercial or community-sponsored events, and are not sponsored by DFO or the Canadian Atlantic Shark Research Lab. However, the catches provide excellent samples for scientific examination, and thus all catches are closely monitored.”

Asked what information that’s been collected that he finds the most interesting, Gavel said it’s how far blue sharks travel. One shark tagged and released during the Yarmouth tournament later ended up in waters off Spain.

“Now that these fish are tagged, it’s going to be continuous information all of the time,” he said.

Information about the

2022 Shark Scramble, including registration info, can be found on the event website.

As for the replica shark, Gavel said all of its dimensions and information were sent to Florida.

“I said, is this something you can do? They said they’d never done one that large before but they were sure they could. Where it’s a Canadian record, I felt it was something we should do.”

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2022-06-29T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-06-29T07:00:00.0000000Z

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